Impact of acetic acid exposure on metal contact degradation of different crystalline silicon solar cell technologies

Iqbal, Nafis; Li, Mengjie; Sakthivel, Tamil S.; Mikeska, Kurt; Lu, Meijun; Nandakumar, Naomi; Duttagupta, Shubham; Dhamrin, Marwan; Tsuji, Kosuke; Bowden, Stuart; Augusto, André; Guan, Yuejun; Seal, Sudipta; Davis, Kristopher O.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2022.112089

Impact of acetic acid exposure on metal contact degradation of different crystalline silicon solar cell technologies

Journal Article · Wed Nov 16 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2022.112089· OSTI ID:2283913

^[1]; Li, Mengjie ^[2]; ^[3]; Mikeska, Kurt ^[4]; Lu, Meijun ^[4]; ^[5]; Duttagupta, Shubham ^[5]; Dhamrin, Marwan ^[6]; ^[7]; Bowden, Stuart ^[8]; ^[8]; Guan, Yuejun ^[3]; Seal, Sudipta ^[3]; ^[2]

University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States); University of Central Florida
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States); FSEC Energy Research Center, Cocoa, FL (United States)
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States)
Jiangxi Jiayin Science and Technology, Ltd. (China)
National University of Singapore (Singapore)
Toyo Aluminium K.K., Shiga (Japan); Osaka University (Japan)
Toyo Aluminium K.K., Shiga (Japan)
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (United States)

Degradation due to acetic acid in photovoltaic (PV) modules has been a commonly observed phenomenon for both damp-heat exposure and outdoor operations. Acetic acid is a degradation byproduct of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), a common module encapsulant. To address this issue, robust metallization pastes and cell technologies are being developed. However, it is important to assess how these technologies perform in an acetic acid environment and withstand degradation before they are implemented in the solar market. In this work, we investigate the impact of acetic acid exposure on four different cell groups: monofacial passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) cells with advanced telluride-based front contact pastes, bifacial PERC cells with novel aluminum rear contact pastes, bifacial tunnel oxide passivated contacts (TOPCon) cells, and silicon heterojunction (SHJ) cells. These cells were exposed to acetic acid for different time increments. The recombination losses were characterized by Suns-VOC, and multi-variate regression analysis of intensity-dependent photoluminescence (PL) images with Griddler AI. Resistive losses were tracked with the transmission line method (TLM). Samples showing severe performance degradation were selected for further materials characterization to understand the root cause. Top-down and cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were performed to investigate the change in materials properties. Our study shows that the front contacts of the bifacial TOPCon cells and monofacial PERC cells were significantly affected by acetic acid exposure. Here, the SHJ cells were found to be the most stable.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0008155

OSTI ID:: 2283913

Journal Information:: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Journal Name: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells Vol. 250; ISSN 0927-0248

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
Acetic acid
Contact degradation
Corrosion
Crystalline silicon solar cells
Metallization paste

Impact of acetic acid exposure on metal contact degradation of different crystalline silicon solar cell technologies

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